


seeing is believing

by Veera_Kara



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M, Gypsy, Olicity Hiatus Project, Red String of Fate, destined lovers, fortunetellers, love tropes, olicity - Freeform, skeptical Felicity, team bow and brains
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-27
Updated: 2014-07-27
Packaged: 2018-02-10 14:55:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2029257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Veera_Kara/pseuds/Veera_Kara
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Red String of Fate talked about two destined lovers who would fall in love no matter what the circumstances. Felicity's told she has one, but she's pretty skeptical of carnival psychics.</p>
            </blockquote>





	seeing is believing

**Author's Note:**

> Olicity Hiatus Project
> 
> Prompt: Love Tropes
> 
> (Red String of Fate)

The gypsy tent was full of incense and the sharp scent made Felicity’s eyes water. She shuffled uncomfortably, turning behind her to look for Oliver and Diggle after Sara abandoned her. She was the ones who pushed her into this fortuneteller’s tent, claiming that not seeing a fortuneteller at a carnival was sacrilege and then unfairly mentioning that she loved fortunetellers before she got on the yacht with Oliver, and the mixture of pleading and sorrow (and cunning) got Felicity to agree.

Thus, the tent.

The actual fortuneteller was nowhere in sight, and Felicity leaned back in her seat, eyeing the crystal ball with a little bit of disdain. She really doesn’t like fortunetellers. They always used intellectual guesswork to read your palm and they took in the clues around you to figure out your “past” and made up bullshit about your future. Plus, they were false. Fake, fake, and did she mention fake. So fake and false and _wrong_. There was nothing scientifically proven about fortunetellers, and she could probably look into a crystal ball and guess her future just as accurately as they could.

Felicity looked up again and saw the tarot cards, and rolled her eyes as she looked behind her again to see the flap of the tent. Maybe if she shouted Oliver or Diggle could come in here and save her?

The incense felt like it was burning her nose and Felicity got up, frustrated. She remembered the last time she came to a fortuneteller. She was fourteen and could build a computer like a pro and was really excited to start high school so she could get out of this place, and the fortuneteller glanced at her and took one good look at her mother and declared that Felicity would never be more than a simple cocktail waitress like her mother. Don’t bother looking for marriage either, unless she wanted one death and one divorce lying on her hands.

She hated her. Hated her so much that to this day Felicity always promised herself to at least _try_ not to go back and shove her M.I.T. degree and Queen Consolidated badge in that woman’s face.

Felicity sighed. Sara could suck it, to be honest. She was going to just grab her bag and go—

… Felicity carefully looked at the chair she was just sitting on and then crouched down to look under the table, but her bag was missing. What the hell? She definitely brought it in. She was fiddling with the strap just a second ago!

“You can have your bag back when you’re done.”

Felicity almost bumped her head on the table and she struggled to stand up and face the sudden appearance of the woman. Felicity gulped. She looked like a regular stereotypical fortuneteller, with the bandana and one hoop earring and long shawl that covered her body. Except there was something very… predatory about her. Her eyes were such a light gray and it was a huge contrast to the olive skin and the wisps of dark hair that escaped her bandana.

“Have a seat”, the woman said, motioning to the seat that Felicity just got out of.

“Um no thanks… Just give me my bag and I’ll go”, she said warily. The woman shook her head.

“I don’t have your bag. But you will get it back when we’re done, I promise.”

Felicity gulped again, and looked behind her carefully.

“Mr. Queen and Mr. Diggle will find you when the time is right, do not fret.”

“How do you know my friends’ names?”

The woman looked at her exasperatedly, as if she thought Felicity was a fool for asking her that. “Sit down Miss Smoak.”

Okay she was officially freaked. She slyly looked around for her bag again but decided to just sit down when she couldn’t find any sign of it. Maybe if she just did what this woman asked, she’d get her bag back and then get revenge on Sara for making her come here in the first place.

The woman extended her palm out and Felicity blinked a few times before realizing that the woman expected her to give the woman her hand. Felicity sighed deeply before doing so, and she watched the woman curiously before opening her big mouth.

“So you know my name… As creepy and freaky was that was. What’s yours?”

The woman coolly glazed at her hand and then moved her eyes up her arm to settle on Felicity’s face. Felicity shuddered when the woman’s cold eyes stared at her with no feeling. It was almost as if she was staring right _through_ her, and Felicity just wanted to get out of there. She didn’t have time for this freaky magic mumbo jumbo shit.

“Names have power, Miss Smoak.” A manicured finger slowly traced the lines on her palm and Felicity struggled not to pull her hand away immediately. “Do you know the origins of the red strings of fate, Miss Smoak?”

In fact, she did. But only because she wanted to prove them wrong in college. “I do… It’s an… An East Asian myth that said that the gods tied a red cord around the ankles or little fingers of a person, depending on which version you’re talking about”, Felicity gulped as the woman quietly continued to trace her sharp nail on her palm, while the woman’s other hands were tightly encircling her wrist. “And the people tied together are uh, destined lovers.”

The woman just nodded slowly, her grey eyes never leaving Felicity’s face. “Did you know that you have one?”

This was ridiculous. Felicity could feel her heart hammering in her chest as she struggled to answer coherently. “There’s no red string around my pinky finger.”

The woman almost smirked but her face stayed unmoving and it freaked Felicity out even more so than possible. “That’s because you can’t see it, little one.” The woman lifted her hand and placed her fingers on top of Felicity’s pinky finger, slowly circling the finger as if she was … as if she was feeling out a string.

This woman was nuts, Felicity thought. Certifiably insane.

“Don’t believe me?” the woman asked haughtily, even though Felicity didn’t say anything but hey, she guesses she had a pretty expressive face that called out bullshit. “How’s this? I’ll pull on the string. and your destined lover will come flying through my door.”

Felicity raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. As if the logistics of her pulling some other person from whatever they were doing and then bringing them here made any sense. “Go ahead.”

The woman felt out what Felicity assumed was the hypothetical red string and twisted her finger around it, before giving Felicity another look and finally _pulling_ on the string.

Nothing happened for a minute, just like Felicity expected it wouldn’t, and she was opened to make some sassy remark to the crazy woman when all of a sudden Oliver came flying into the tent.

“Felicity?” he asked from his position on the floor where he fell. “What’s going on?”

Felicity gulped. No. This was some kind of twisted joke. A coincidence, even! “What are you doing here?” she choked out. “I thought you were finding me the biggest teddy bear they sold here.”

Oliver blinked confusedly, and just shrugged before looking around the tent. “It was really weird. Felt like something was… pulling me.”

Felicity froze and slowly turned back to look at the woman, except she vanished and the only trace of anything ever happening in the last few minutes was Felicity’s missing bag sitting on the table.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me at Tumblr! voubledision.tumblr.com


End file.
